The Hackenblog

“Now, as all things must, it has shown up on ebay. Someone has found twelve original negatives to the English dubbed version in the vaults of Los Angeles’s KCOP-13 and is selling them on ebay for $24,000. Close up images of these negs can be viewed here. Note that one is marked for use by New York’s TV station WPIX (where I saw it as a kid).”
Tezuka’s Amazing Three, Cartoon Brew, April 4, 2008

Ah ha! I watched this on Channel 13 in LA as a kid, but no one on earth seemed to know what I was talking about when I described a Japanese cartoon with aliens disguised as barnyard animals, so I figured I dreamed it. Nice to know I didn’t. Although I seem to remember it in color, but, um, maybe I dreamed that part, I dunno…

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J WOC masthead and Wapshott logo by Molly Kiely.

Now all we need are the articles. Ahem, fangirls?

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Whoa!

PRESS RELEASE

February 28, 2008

——-
BECOME A PART OF THE MANGA WORLD WITH POP JAPAN TRAVEL’S MIND OVER MANGA TOUR
——-

Japanese dojinshi, comics published by the artist and sold at special events across Japan, have become a driving creative force, and a sensational way to connect with other fans. In the past, Pop Japan Travel has visited these dojinshi markets, but only as spectators. That’s about to change.

This August, aspiring dojinshi creators, established small press comic artists and manga admirers alike will have an unprecedented opportunity. Pop Japan Travel’s Mind Over Manga Tour offers guests the chance to go behind the scenes of one of Japan’s most respected dojinshi events, Comitia — and if you choose, print and sell your own comic or art book directly to Japanese readers!

If you apply and qualify, Pop Japan Travel will:

*-Translate your book into Japanese so that the locals can understand it
*-Print your book and deliver it directly to the event at Tokyo Big Sight
*-Help you sell your book and discuss it with readers at a booth at the event

Since 1984, Comitia has been one of Tokyo’s most popular dojinshi events. Run four times a year, it focuses on original, creative art rather than fan fiction. That has made it a key launchpad for new manga artists, with thousands of circles participating each year. It takes place at Tokyo Big Sight, which otaku will recognize from Comic Party, Genshiken and many other anime and manga series!

Even if you don’t choose to sell your own book, you’ll get an up-close look at the way Japan’s manga market operates. And the tour will also include the chance to meet and pick the brains of some Japan’s most important manga and dojinshi artists, plus a visit to a cutting-edge anime studio and Hayao Miyazaki’s Ghibli Museum.

Naturally, Mind Over Manga also includes our tried-and-true tour of Tokyo, providing a mind-blowing look at the world’s most populous urban area, plus a few excursions outside the city and an optional three-day tour of Osaka and Kyoto, Japan’s thousand-year capital.

The exact itinerary and price for the tour are still pending, but we wanted to spread the word as quickly as possible so you could start drawing!

Tour dates and activities are subject to change. Check out our Web site, www.popjapantravel.com, or contact travel@popjapantravel.com for details.

——-

DIGITAL MANGA’S POP JAPAN TRAVEL is the original and premiere provider of pop culture themed tours of Japan. Since 2003, PJT has operated more than 15 tours with themes focused on Japanese anime, manga, games and more. Pop Japan tours offer a careful balance of the hyper-modern world of J-pop culture and the rich traditions of ancient Japan, and PJT is the ONLY tour agency to provide exclusive experiences such as visits to anime and game studios, meetings with manga artists, and more. Pop Japan Travel tours are organized in cooperation with IACE Travel, one of Japan’s largest travel agencies.

###

Oh. My. God. This is wonderful! For people who like this kind of thing.

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Planet Karen

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Which is better than no book at all:

“Our premier Wowio book is up and ready for download! It contains the first 3 chapters of NNFB, a preface by Hirotomo, never before seen artwork, and a new NNFB remix! All of that is absolutely free, yet through the magic of the internets, somehow Alex and I get paid for each download. So please sign up and relive the good old days of NNFB. If you aren’t able to use Wowio due to country restrictions, don’t worry. We’re looking for a way to make it available to international readers shortly.”

This is one of the best webcomics I’ve ever read, even when it gets a little goofy, it’s great!

And this WOWIO thing is verrrrrrry interrresting.

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Please cross-post if you are so inclined. Thank you.

The Journal of Women on Comics.

Guidelines and format for The Journal of Women On Comics (ISSN 1940-7637). These guidelines are subject to modification.

The first issue of the Journal of Women On Comics is a print compilation of women writing on comics online (or in print, if it’s not a copyright violation) or original, previously unpublished non-fiction up through December 31, 2007. If you’ve published or have an unpublished essay, interview, analysis, reviews, histories, original comics about women writing on comics, or whatever before 12/31/2007 and would like to submit it for J WOC’s consideration, please use one of the templates below. I’d prefer MS Word, but I know not everyone uses it. Please edit and proof your submission before you submit it, J WOC won’t do any editing or proofing, so it would be good if your submission was as close to perfect as possible when it gets here. Authors retain their copyright. J WOC has permission to use the material for the volume it’s published in.

The deadline for big inaugural issue is on or before February 29, 2008 and the material can be from whenever-12/31/2007 .

Thereafter I’ll publish whenever I have 60-70 or more pages of material.

My criteria is simple: I’ll publish anything by a woman identified woman about comics, graphic novels, the industry, culture, etc. that I like and won’t get me sued.

Download the template in MS Word or Rich Text Format or Plain Text. Don’t worry about how it looks, I’ll be formatting up a storm in the final document.

I look forward to your submission(s). Please email your edited, proofed and formatted document to editor AT j-woc DOT info Also feel free to contact me if you’d like more information or just to chat. I’m on Skype at ginger.mayerson.

I know print is a little retro, but I’d love to be able to hand out a phone book-size first issue of J WOC. I think it would be a great huge collection of great huge writing by women about comics.

And guys, just so you don’t feel completely left out, I’m doing a magazine called The Journal of Bloglandia, which is where your stuff could be published, if you are so inclined.

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Webcomics, dear God, it’s a whole issue on Webcomics at Sequential Tart. May the good Lord have mercy on us all.

http://www.sequentialtart.com

I even ramble on a bit about webcomics in this issue.

Oh, yes, and in honor of 10 years of Sequential Tart, there are some very cool calendars for sale! (more…)

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I got to wake up with a sore throat, but that just means I’m getting it out of the way for the rest of 2008.

And since it IS 2008, I can post this again!

Journal of Bloglandia, because Blogtopia (y!sctp!) was taken.

and

The Journal of Women on Comics, women read comics and write great things about them.

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The Upshot of Wapshott, an interview with yours truly at Sequential Tart.

More than you knew, more than you probably ever wanted to know. However, I do say some cool stuff about comics, smut, art, and publishing, and not necessarily in that order.

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Journal of Bloglandia (ISSN1950-7645)

Journal of Women on Comics (ISSN1940-7637)

Please cross-post, thanks!

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Streetlaughter has the best, circa 1969, definition I’ve ever seen.

Faggots: Dave Berg, Streetlaughter, December 13, 2007 (click for the larger image, but do read the post, it’s a good ‘un).

Thanks, Dorian, this was my first laugh of the day.

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We the Robots

Amusing new webcomic.

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You have to read a lot of DC Comics to get this:

“‘Which is cooler, the JSA or JLA? Why?’

“‘If you could join either of the above (but obviously not both), which would you choose and why?’

“JSA far and away. It is not even a competition when you compare the Jewish Snowboarders of America with the Japanese Lawyers Association. The members of the JLA all passed the bar, but the members of the JSA never do…”
Not so deep thoughts, Philosophers’ Playground, November 9, 2007

And it you don’t get it, you’re very very lucky.

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I’m reading too much Mary Worth and watching too much YouTube. But this, this, um, compilation has attained a strange perfection. Or something.

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I’ve been busy with other things so I’m late to the Tigra assault and JLA chamber of horrors pages party.

But, then again, I was trying not to notice them. Snuff and porn comics will always be with us, but usually as a micro-niche market. So what I want to know is who’s buying this stuff and why aren’t they getting the kind of help they need? JLA bondage, meh, okay; nobody seems to be bleeding. They all look kind of dead, so the necrophilia content ups the revulsion level.

But a woman beaten senseless on camera? What kind of sick pleasure is there in that? I’m not a boxing fan, but I can appreciate that there are rules to make it a more or less even match. But breaking into a woman’s apartment, (which is a real fear for many women as well as men in real life [and, no, I don’t want to know the backstory, I don’t care about the backstory]) superheroine or not, taking her by surprise and beating the shit out of her for the enjoyment of other men? I just don’t have any words for that except, please get some help.

And DC is making money off these images, well, that’s commerce for ya. No one is forcing anyone to buy this stuff. As for me, I will be dropping all Marvel and DC titles except Jonah Hex and All-Star Batman and Robin. I know those titles aren’t exactly Sunday school lessons, but I have Jonah Hex issues to work out and ASBAR makes me laugh.* Otherwise I’m just tired of giving my money to two male-dominated corporations that hate me. My comic shop will have to make up the dough they’re losing on me in doll, sorry, action figure sales.

(Images via Journalista October 16 and 22, 2007. Thanks, Dirk…I think.)

*Why does everyone hate ASBAR? For me, whose very first exposure as an innocent child to Batman was the TV show, ASBAR is like the Star Trek Original Series Mirror Universe version of that show. I expect a bearded Spock and Uhura’s midriff any page now. This being the case, ASBAR hits me on levels I’m just beginning to understand. Too bad they didn’t have Black Canary in the TV show. Any suggestions on which 60s blond bombshell the producers could have gotten for her? I vote for Mamie Van Doren.

Update October 26, 2007: Laura Hudson weighs in on the subject. Well said, Laura.

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“ComicBookShelf.com Gives Back To The Industry

“Sales Benefit Two Major Charities

“San Jose, CA — Starting October 1, ComicBookShelf.com, one of Northern California’s leading online graphic novel retailers, will be giving back to the comic book industry by donating a percentage of every sale to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Hero Initiative.

“‘I’m passionate about comics, and I know that the field as we know it wouldn’t be what it is today without the work of The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Hero Initiative,’ said ComicBookShelf.com President Dan Shahin. ‘These two groups are watching out for the legal rights and well-being of our field, so I’m proud to give back for all the important work that they do by donating 10% of every sale placed on ComicBookShelf.com-5% to each organization-between now and the end of the year.’ Shahin added, ‘To make an even bigger difference, we’re going to double that donation between now and November 1. As always, shipping is 100% free with no minimum purchase, making it easy to shop and support the comics community at the same time.’

“ComicBookShelf.com’s generosity will go a long way to help the CBLDF,” said the Fund’s Executive Director Charles Brownstein. “Their donations come as we prepare to defend the First Amendment rights of retailer Gordon Lee at trial in Georgia next month. It’s this kind of support that keeps the Fund strong enough to defend the Free Expression rights of the comic book field.”

“‘Dan runs a great store in Hijinx Comics in San Jose, and an outstanding online store as well,’ said Jim McLauchlin, The Hero Initiative president. ‘His generosity is greatly appreciated in helping Hero raise funds to provide the much-needed and life-saving services we provide.’

“ComicBookShelf.com is a website devoted to the medium of comics in graphic novel format. Users can log in to review and tag books to power a custom graphic novel recommendation algorithm designed to connect the right readers with the right comics. Shipping is always absolutely free with no minimum purchase, or books can be picked up in person at Hijinx Comics in San Jose, CA to earn additional savings. For more information, go to www.comicbookshelf.com, email info@comicbookshelf.com or contact Dan Shahin at (408) 728 - 9203.

“The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1986 as a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community. Donations and inquiries should be directed to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at info@cbldf.org or 800-99-CBLDF. For more information on the CBLDF, please visit www.cbldf.org

“The Hero Initiative is the first-ever federally chartered not-for-profit corporation dedicated strictly to helping comic book creators in need. Hero creates a financial safety net for yesterdays’ creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. It’s a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment. For more information, visit www.HeroInitiative.org or call 310-909-7809.”
ComicBookShelf.com Gives Back To The Industry (via Boing Boing somehow via the SeqTart mailing list)

These are worthy causes and I’ve given money to CBLDF in the past. ‘Course I’m a bad person and wonder why Big Comics get away with screwing their artists and writers.

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This is, like, the most useful cartoon on earth. I think I saw it on Bruce Schneier’s blog a while ago.

The only problem I’m having is that the BBBonline.org site doesn’t work very well. But that’s not the cartoon’s fault.

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“Like many people, I do end up killing some time reading websites such as Girl-Wonder and When Fangirls Attack. Mostly for the morbid curiosity value. Occasionally for the accidental humor caused by the postings or the reactions to the postings and so on and so forth. Very little of what I’ve read has ultimately changed my mind or made me feel a sense of solidarity with my fellow female humans in their struggles against The Man. To me, a black man born after the Civil Rights movement, you would figure I’d want to be on their side, to support their struggle.

“Yet nothing could have been further from the truth.

“Why was that?

“I mean, I’m not a feminist. That’s for sure.

“But I am a humanist.

“Shouldn’t I have wanted my fellow human beings of a different gender to be better represented, to have their share of wish fulfillment power fantasies on display? If for nothing else than for the fact a comics industry that’s more female friendly just might be more multiculturally friendly. So it would have been in my own best interests to be concerned with the various issues as they arose and were dealt with or not.

“Yet and still, nothing.

“That perplexed me.

“Until I read the opening section of Dale Carnegie’s book and the light went on in my head as to why I wasn’t moved by anything the fangirls were saying.”
Why It Fails When Fangirls Attack, Vincent Moore, Late September (I’m not seeing a date)

How can you be a humanist and not a feminist when one of the foundations of feminism is that women are human, too, therefore humanism would would, by default, include feminism, neh?

Too bad his blog doesn’t have comments. He’d probably get some interesting discussion on this.

I like the kitsch aspects of Dale Carnegie. I read “How to win…” when I was having problems working with old corporate guys and it actually helped a lot. One of my favorite bits is “Nobody ever kicks a dead dog.” I wonder if Vincent reads Catherine Ponder and Napoleon Hill, too.

I have comments on this blog, but due to horrendous comment spam recently, comments are only open of the most recent 7 days of posts, sorry if you fall by and want to comment after that.

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Superman gets spanked by a suit and likes it.

Computers

Larry Craig

Just had to share.

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“One costume that may have been a first in the Northwest was the rollerblader from the Jet Set Radio video game. There were also at least two people dressed as characters from the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney games. They even had “word balloon” signs with phrases like “Objection!” written on them.

“At one point a group of women outside in period costumes looked as if they must belong to some anime. But actually they were dressed in mid-19th-century clothing as part of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the city of Vancouver, Washington. This event happened to be going on the same weekend as Kumoricon, in the park across from the convention’s hotel. The timing was great, because it made Kumoricon feel like part of a larger party.

“The convention’s location at the Vancouver Hilton also paid off when it came time to find something to eat. A farmers’ market was conveniently situated a block away, with plenty of fresh produce, various hot foods, and very short lines. The mellow locals hardly even reacted when ninja, pirates and other characters stopped by to check out the produce stands.”
Tom Good covers Kumoricon 2007, J LHLS, September 15, 2007

Not like being there, but pretty close.

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I just want it to be okay for women (and children) to live in heavily armed, fortified communes.

For Better or For Worse creator’s husband leaves her.

I really need a schadenfreude category.

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Like The Trouble With Tribbles.

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“And I’ve finally figured out why - and it came from a conversation I had last Wednesday, where the clerk (a man about my own age) said he was lucky he remembered my name. And I countered with ‘How many middle-aged women in headscarves have a pull-list here?’ He grinned and acknowledged that I was unique there.”
Comic book shops and me, Debra Fran Baker, August 19, 2007

Wearing headscarves, not wearing headscarves, personally I fancy ankle-length batik schmatas and rayon rebozos - Middle-aged women in comics shops do indeed rock the house.

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I was recently accused of racism when I thought I was recognizing the continuing struggle of African-Americans to be seen as human beings. Of course this bothered me. I don’t mind being misunderstood, but the level of hatred surprised me. So it made me think, think about race and why a comment, a comparison and an observation on history touched off a firestorm.

(more…)

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Ragni

I hope this doesn’t give anyone (else) nightmares.

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The Port

I’m really hooked on this webcomic. I’ve no idea what’s going on, but it looks pretty good to me.

I like this one, too, but not as much.

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FYI for you die-hards:

Anime Expo 2007 Saturday, Sunday, and the draft of the Satoru Kannagi Interview from June 28, 2007 (her publisher is going to namecheck a few things, but otherwise the interview is done).

Enjoy! If you are so inclined. (Yessss, this IS what I’ve been doing in my valuable spare time.)

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“Because, obviously, how women are treated in comics stories is ultimately part of many larger issues. But just focusing on comics - if most major women characters are eventually cannon fodder of one type or another, how does that affect the female readers? Do they give up?”
Gail Simone Women in Refrigerators, no date but somewhere around 1999 (sheesh!)

Give up? Nah.

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“Male creators of comics act out subconscious adolescent male hostility toward women in their art.” (Gerry Conway)
Supergirls in comics, by Istlhimank Sharma, Times of India, June 16, 2007

I was shocked by the rawness of this quote, so I googled it and it’s only slightly less shocking in context:

“I haven’t read the comments of your other respondents, so mine is a fresh, uncontaminated response. As a writer who’s killed (Gwen Stacy), raped (Cinder of Cinder and Ashe), and maimed (well, no, I don’t think I ever maimed anyone, but if I did it was probably during a blackout in the late ’70s), I can hardly plead innocence when it comes to violence against fictional females. In fact, I think you’re on to something — there does appear to be a disproportionate high number of female superheroes who’ve met gruesome deaths. Of course, since comic book superheroes began life as an adolescent male fantasy figures, and for the most part continue to fill that role, we shouldn’t be surprised the (primarily) male creators of comics act out subconscious adolescent male hostility toward women in their art. Powerful women = mommy = enemy/love object/tormentor of the post-pubescent male psyche. Sadly Freudian but true. Even so, the intensity of violence against comic book superheroines (in fact, against everyone — male, female, super or otherwise) seems to have increased exponentially since I quit writing comics in the late ’80s. I was appalled by the comic page reproduced on your web site, but I suppose it’s representative of what’s happened to the medium. It confirms a belief I developed in the ’80s — that more and more, mainstream comics were being designed to appeal primarily to the kids in River’s Edge. (If you don’t know the movie, find it, rent it, and tell me I’m wrong.) In this context, violence against superheroines is part of a continuum — a cynical, spiritless dehumanization of the superhero art form. As a friend of mine remarked recently in another context, ‘Welcome to the post-ironic world…’”
Gerry Conway, Women in Refrigerators, who knows when.

Hmmm.

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“Most astounding thing is how DC pretty much wrecked a lot of good character development Dixon provided for Spoiler for almost a decade.

“Stephanie most definitely shouldn’t be forgotten, and there’s still a lot of work needed if she’s to be revived. The best option would be not to buy Robin as they’re doing it now, if that’s how they’re going to behave.”
Chuck Dixon was asked for his thoughts on the abuse/obscuration of Spoiler, and gave some, Four Color Media Monitor, June 20, 2007 (via WFA; Chuck Dixon original post)

I’m already boycotting “Robin.”

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